


Truth May Bury Us

by zahnie



Category: Leverage, The Birthday of the World and Other Stories - Ursula K. Le Guin
Genre: Agender Character, Alternate Universe - Fusion, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Happy Ending, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 18:14:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16000667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zahnie/pseuds/zahnie
Summary: When you stop trying to solve a problem that doesn't actually exist, everything falls into place.--In a world where everybody is assigned a moiety at birth (Morning or Evening, matching their mother's) and marriages are four people (Morning Man, Evening Man, Morning Woman, Evening Woman) and people of the same moiety never have sexual relationships, is there room for three people who love each other?





	Truth May Bury Us

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fusion of the TV show Leverage and the short story "Mountain Ways" by Ursula K. Le Guin. "Mountain Ways" can be found in her collection _The Birthday of the World_.
> 
> I read [An Ever-Fixed Mark](https://archiveofourown.org/works/42803) by [imperfectcircle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/imperfectcircle/pseuds/imperfectcircle) and was instantly consumed by the need to write in that world but with the Leverage OT3 instead of the Merlin OT4. Thank you for the intensely adorable inspiration <3
> 
> Tons of love and thanks to adelaide and greenmonstermash for reading this when it was in progress and being excited :D
> 
> Title is from me mishearing lyrics from [Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghb6eDopW8I) :D

“Sophie doesn't have a moiety. Why do I need one?” Parker asks.

They're at the bar after a job and Hardison just asked Parker what her moiety is. Eliot thinks this whole discussion is a mistake but nobody asked him.

“Sophie does have one,” Hardison says. “She's just pretending when she switches.”

Parker doesn't look convinced, so Eliot says, “It's like her name. She has a real one, she just pretends with all the fake ones.”

“But you can't tell when it's fake, so why does it matter?” Parker asks.

Eliot realizes too late that he shouldn't have gone down the fake-name route with Parker. She might think he's asking for _her_ 'real name'. He'd never do that intentionally.

“It doesn't,” Hardison says, trying for a smile. “I was just wondering.”

Eliot looks down into his drink. It only matters because Hardison wants to be in a relationship with Parker. If she's Morning like he is, that would be impossible.

*

Hardison asked Eliot which moiety he was a long time ago. After the explosion and the escape from the hospital, when they were at Hardison's place, planning how to take down Dubenich.

“Morning,” Eliot lied.

Later, he isn't sure _why_ he lied, except Hardison had already declared himself to be Morning and Eliot didn't want to—well, he _wanted_ to, but that was the whole problem.

Maybe it was just vanity that made him think Hardison looked disappointed. Hardison definitely looked surprised.

“What, I'm not cheerful enough for you?” Eliot growled. He always hated the stereotypes of Morning and Evening, so it was easy to sound angry.

“Hey, man, I'm just gathering information,” Hardison protested. “You don't have to bite my head off about it.”

Nate had pointedly moved the conversation on then, but not before giving Eliot an assessing look. Of course Nate knew Eliot was Evening. He'd known since he worked for IYS, chasing people like Eliot down. But he didn't say anything.

Eliot was just grateful at the time. But now, he wonders if Hardison was so surprised because he'd already known too.

*

“Is it moiety that makes us different from the others?” Parker asks.

They're finally off the goddamn mountain and back in Boston. Eliot is in the hall outside Nate's apartment, ready to go home and have the hot bath he's been daydreaming about all week. But Parker's question stops him short.

She keeps going. “Because you're Morning, just like Hardison is. Does that make me Morning too, if you and I are the same?”

“I'm Evening,” Eliot says. He regrets the words as soon as they're out of his mouth. It's a stupid lie to keep up this long but that doesn't mean he wants to get caught admitting the truth.

Parker shakes her head impatiently. “Whatever. Am I Evening then?”

“I don't know,” Eliot says. “It's not about that. Moiety doesn't... it's not like that.” He sighs. That was pretty inarticulate, even for him.

He tries again. “Hardison's Morning, I'm Evening, you're whatever, it doesn't matter. We'll be the same in some ways and different in other ways.”

Parker thinks about that for a minute, staring into Eliot's eyes, like she did in the crevasse. Finally, she nods.

Just for a second, Eliot wishes he and Parker had a 'we're good' fistbump-thing, like he has with Hardison. And then she hugs him.

It's a surprisingly close hug. When Parker decides to do something, she throws herself into it and hugging is no exception. He hugs her back. Sudden love warms Eliot right through, erasing the cold places inside of him for just a moment.

They pull back at the same time, which makes him smile. Parker grins back. “Bye,” she says, and strolls down the hall toward the exit.

Eliot stays put for a few minutes, trying to hold on to that feeling, before he leaves as well.

*

After stopping the fake-real terrorist attack in D.C., the three of them fly back to Portland. Eliot's reluctant to leave Parker and Hardison so he goes with them to their apartment above the brewpub. He makes some lame excuse about not having any bandages left at his place but it isn't fooling anyone.

A while ago, when Hardison and Parker announced that they're dating, Eliot had wondered if Parker pretended to be Evening to make it easier. But it seemed more likely Hardison just decided he doesn't care about her ambiguous moiety. Eliot hasn't asked.

Nate and Sophie are dating too, though they haven't bothered announcing it. Sophie has always been Morning with them, and her and Nate ending up dating seemed pretty obvious from the outside. If Parker was Evening, the four of them could theoretically form a sedoretu and get married, though the idea makes Eliot's skin crawl. Sophie and Parker together is almost as unsettling to think about as Nate and Hardison.

There isn't any real food in the apartment so Hardison calls the brewpub downstairs and gets Amy to deliver dinner.

The three of them all end up on the couch, watching movies, after they eat. It's late. Eliot's shoulder hurts more than his leg right now but that'll change once he's lying down.

“Do you want to sleep in our bed?” Parker asks him.

“The couch is fine,” Eliot says, a beat too slow. He firmly pushes away the thought of the three of them together in that huge bed.

Hardison shakes his head. “You're definitely getting the bed. Bullet wounds mean no sleeping in weird places.”

Eliot opens his mouth to argue that the couch isn't a 'weird place', he's slept there plenty of times before, but before he can, Hardison adds, “We'll sleep somewhere else. Ain't like we don't have options.”

“Our bed is big enough,” Parker says, like _that_ was the problem.

“He's hurt, he can have the whole bed,” Hardison says. “I'm not going to kick you out of your own bed,” Eliot says at the same time.

Parker squints at both of them in turn. “Are we talking about sleeping or sex?” she asks.

Eliot closes his eyes. Hardison starts stammering something about this not being a good time.

“We can all sleep in the bed,” Parker says, relentlessly. “Hardison kicks sometimes so I can go in the middle.”

Eliot opens his eyes, hoping against hope that she won't push the issue. Parker continues, “If it's sex, that sounds fun but we should wait until Eliot's healed up more.”

The silence afterwards feels like a physical weight on Eliot's chest. Both of them are looking at him, Parker expectant and Hardison anxious.

“We can't,” Eliot says, finally.

Hardison sighs, like he was holding his breath. It's a disappointed-but-not-surprised kind of sigh.

Parker just looks confused. “Why not? Is this a moiety thing?”

“People of the same moiety don't have sex,” Hardison says, quietly.

“You and I aren't the same moiety,” Eliot tells him. “I'm Evening. I just... with both of us, whichever moiety Parker is, she'll be the same as one of us.”

Parker rolls her eyes. “I don't have a moiety,” she says. “It isn't that complicated. I don't have a gender either.”

Eliot blinks at her. “What?” This is news to him.

She shrugs. “It's okay, I don't tell a lot of people about it. They think I'm a girl and it doesn't matter.”

Hardison clears his throat. “Trans people sometimes have different perceptions of moiety,” he says. “We've been doing some research.”

Huh. Eliot wonders if Sophie and Nate know about this. “Okay,” he says.

Parker smiles at him. So does Hardison. He can see the love in their faces because he's seen them smile like that at each other.

Eliot can feel his reservations melting away. It's amazing he's held out this long, honestly. Because it wasn't out in the open, he could pretend the three of them weren't a possibility. No, not _pretend_. He really didn't think this was something he could have.

To think, he could have _lost them_ yesterday, without ever knowing.

“Okay,” Eliot says again.

Hardison leans forward, still a bit hesitant, and Eliot kisses him.

*

Later, a lot later, they talk more. It's awkward and hard and kind of embarrassing, but they work out that they do all want to be in a relationship together.

“But we won't be able to actually get married, ever,” Eliot says, after they've all three agreed.

“Is that a deal breaker for you?” Hardison asks, his voice light and careful.

“No, of course not.” And it isn't. Eliot never intended to even be in a serious relationship again, let alone form a sedoretu.

“Being married sounds really complicated,” Parker says. “We can keep things simple.”

*

They end up having a ceremony anyway a few years later. A small, informal, and highly illegal ceremony.


End file.
